Improvement in systems fob-detecting and extinguishing fires



W. HQJOHNSTONE. System for Detecting and Extinguishing Fires.

No 210,944. Patented Dec. 17,1878.

u. PETERS, PlfOTG-UTMOGMPHER, Wnsmmamrl, 0. c.

i I r UNITED STATES WILLIAM H. JOHNSTONE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SYSTEMS FOR DETECTlNG AND EXTINGUISHING FIRES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 210.9 14, datedDecember 17, 1878; application filed April 2, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM H. J OHNSTONE, of the city of Philadelphia,State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and Improved Systemof Detecting and Extinguishin g Fires and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanyin g drawing, making part hereof.

The nature of my invention will be fully set forth in the followingspecification and claims; and to enable others skilled in the art tomake and use it, I will describe its construction and operation.

The drawing represents a longitudinal vertical sectional view of a shipor vessel, showing an arrangement of my system within.

A is the deck of the vessel; B, the bottom thereof; 0, the second deck;D, bulk-head, separating the Spaces below decks into differ entapartments. E is the cabin of the vessel. F F are thermostats,situatedin the two lower apartments, and connected with the indicators orannunciators G G, respectively, by means of the wires H H. I I are boxescontain ing dry compound for extinguishing fires. Y J J are fuse-tubes,to protect the fuses in their course from the boxes I I to the cabin,where they terminate beside the annunciators G G. G is a bell, which issounded by the annunciators G G. K is a frictional generator ofelectricity. L L are wires to convey the electric spark from thegenerator K to the boxes of compound I I. M M are boxes offire-extinguishing compound, connected by fuse O. O O are fuses, passingfrom boxes M M to the disk hung in the middle of the ceiling, and

the ends of these fuses hang down through known to the public,strikesthe alarm-bell G, and, by an indicating-figure, points to a letter ornumber representing the apartment in which the thermostat is located,thus directing the attention of the person called by the annunciator tothat apartment.

Now, supposing the alarm to have come from the thermostat F in theforward lower hold of the vessel, the person whose attention is calledcan immediately light the fuse projecting from the end of tube J, whichconducts fire to the box of fire-extinguishing compound in box I in thesame apartment as thermostat F; or, to insure the fire or spark reachingthis box, or a series of boxes, the end of wire L is set into circuitwith generator K, and a few turns are given to the drum K by means ofits handle, then a short backward turn, and an electric spark or flashis instantly sent along wire L into box I, starting it burning, and thusevolving the necessary extinguishing gases. If other boxes similar to Iare connected therewith by means of fuses, all these boxes will befired, and the fire will be extinguished in that apartment. N is ahollow tube, half-way through which is passed the one end of fuse O asit comes from the ceiling. The contiguous end 0" can be disconnectedtherefrom, as shown in the drawings, and at night can be pushed into thetube and be made to impinge against the other end, which is already inthe tube, thus completin g the fuse-circuit.

The generator K is a frictional apparatus for generating electric sparksor flashes, and is such as is used very commonly now in ex plodingdynamite and other explosives in mining and blasting, and is operated byturnin g the drum rapidly in one direction by means of the handle orknob shown in the disk of its end, and then giving a backward turn toit, and the flash can be thus sent along either wire L or L by firstpushing in the upper end of the wire along which the flash is to be sentuntil it completes the circuit with the point at which the electricityis generated. There is a small hole to receive it and make the circuit.

The manner of completing a circuit between a battery and a wire by meansof a thermostat which is so set that the circuit will be completed atabout a desired heat is well known in the arts, and needs no specialdescription here. I have here shown a thermostatic coil, but any otherthermostat can be used.

The dry chemical compounds which I above refer to are those compositionswhich by ignition will evolve carbonic-acid gas and other gasesantagonistic to fiames or oxygen. They are so mixed as to be readilyignited by means of a spark, and are also so compounded as not toexplode, but to burn comparatively slowly.

I have here described my system as applied to vessels; but, as will bereadily seen, it is applicable to buildings of all descriptions, andparticularly to hotels.

It will be seen that, while I locate the thermostat F and box I in thelower forward hold of the vessel, they are properly connected byconductors H, J, and L to the cabin in the -upper rear portion of thevessel, and an alarm of fire given in the cabin from the thermostat Fmay be immediately followed by the sending from the cabin of fire to thebox I along the conductor J or L, or both, to extinguish the fire inthat lower forward hold. Thus no access of persons to the hold isnecessary to put out the fire.

The battery used in connection with thermostat F may be placed on deckor in the cabin, or in any convenient locality where it can be lookedafter from time to time and kept up to requisite strength, and a wire,named above, is to be passed from it to the thermostat or close to it,so that the thermostat, when the degree of heat to which it is set isreached, may touch it and complete the circuit, to sound the alarm or tooperate the annunciator.

The wire L orfuse-tube H, or both, if both are used, are so disposed asto be as much as possible out of the way of the. cargo-via, around theinterior at the junction of the door: ing with the sides of theapartment protected. Instead of employing the fuse-tube H the fuse maybe left exposed, and may be so disposed as to be fired by any flamewhich may occur in the apartment guarded by the compound. In such casethe firing of the compound from the cabin will be unnecessary. The wireL, I make of platinum, or of some metal not easily fusible and so strongas not to be easily broken by parts of the cargo knocking against it.The operation of the gases evolved by the chemical compound is todisplace, absorb, or neutralize the oxygen of the apartment, renagedering the surrounding atmosphere unfit to support combustion,andthereby extinguishing the fire. fuses into a molten lava-like substance,which in dropping would very rapidly burn or damage any combustiblesubstance beneath before it could be put out by the gases evolved; andto avoid this, I, in practice, set the tin can or case containing thecompound into a casing formed of an iron cylinder of about quarterinchthickness, having an open top, or whose top is grated or perforated, andthe upper parts of the sides of this cylinder are likewise grated orperforated to permit the free escape of the gases; but the lower part istight, and will receive and retainthe molten lava within it and allow itto cool without doing any dam- Having thus described my improvement,

what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

,1. As a system for detecting and extin guish ing fires, a thermostat,F, and an alarm, G, located in separate apartments, connected by anelectric conductor, H, the alarm G being operated by electricity from abattery through conductor H and a boxof chemical compound, I, located inthe same apartment as the ther mostat I and a fire-ccnductor passingfrom the vicinity of the alarm G to the interior of box I, all operatingsubstantially as described, whereby a fire occurring in one apartmentcan be detected in another, and can also be extinguished from the formerapartment.

2. As a system for detecting and extin guisl1- in g fires, a thermostat,I and an annunciator orindicator, G, located in separate apartments,connected by an electric conductor, H, the an nunciator or indicator Grbeing operated by electricity from a battery through conductor- H, withabox of chemical compound, I, located in the same apartment asthermostat F, and a fire-conductor passing from. the vicinity of theannunciator or indicator G to the interior of box I, all operatingsubstantially as described, for detecting in one apartment a fire whichhappens in another apartment, and extinguishin g the same from theformer apartment.

WILLIAM H. JOHNSTONE.

Witnesses:

GEORGE E. BUCKLEY, HEXRY V. BUGKLEY.

The chemical compound when fired

